Rep. Slaughter Visits Veterans, Advocates at Warrior Salute™, a service of CDS Monarch

Today, U.S. Rep. Louise M. Slaughter (D-NY) visited with veterans and advocates at Warrior Salute™, a service of CDS Monarch, dedicated to helping Service Members and their families with personalized life and job transition support. Based on their experience providing services to people with developmental disabilities, including vocational training and traumatic brain injury (TBI) service coordination, CDS Monarch introduced the Warrior Salute™ program in 2010 to help Veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Traumatic Brain Injury, regain their lives and dreams by providing quality clinical and rehabilitative therapies, employment opportunities, and temporary housing. Warrior Salute has grown from an initial group of three veteran participants to working with 10-12 veterans at any given time, and has served over 40 veterans in the past three years with a 75% success rate.

Rep. Slaughter has been a consistent advocate for the safety of our troops in combat and care for returning veterans. She recently announced funding for a new VA clinic to replace the overcrowded facility on Westfall Road, and hosted a Veterans Entrepreneurship and Educational Forum with Syracuse University's Institute for Veterans and Military Families. In 2006, Slaughter was able to get 16,000 pieces of faulty body armor replaced to keep our troops in the field safer. Slaughter is a co-sponsor of the Women Veterans and Other Health Care Improvements Act of 2013 and the Veterans Mental Health Accessibility Act.

"No service member who has laid their life on the line for their country should go without a home, a job, or the medical care they need when they return home," Rep. Slaughter said. "The transition from combat to civilian life can be difficult, especially for veterans who have suffered traumatic injuries on the battlefield, and the work being done by Warrior Salute to help these veterans and their families is nothing short of exemplary. When we ask these young people to make sacrifices to protect us, we have to uphold our end of the bargain to care for them, and that's just what Warrior Salute does."

"CDS Monarch recognizes that Veterans returning home from military duty gave so much for our freedom, and now it is our turn to repay them. We are doing this through Warrior Salute, by offering them the supports they need to transition back into their community," stated Sankar Sewnauth, CDS Monarch President/CEO. "We are proud to have officials like Rep. Slaughter recognize the value and importance of Warrior Salute and the need for such a program to support our Veterans as they make this transition. We appreciate the support she has shown for our service men and women, who gave so much for all of us."a